8. Backups

If you are already running a kernel that is the same version of the
one you are about to patch I recommend creating a fresh
directory for the newly patched kernel. Remember that backups are
never a bad thing. These are the files that I back up:

/etc/lilo.conf

/usr/src/*.deb
(Debian-specific)

/etc/modules

/etc/modutils/aliases

/usr/src/linux/.config

If you are not doing things The Debian Way you should also back up the /lib/modules directory, /boot/vmlinuz, /usr/src/linux/arch/i386/boot/bzImage and /usr/src/System.map. It's possible my notes on the location of these files differs. Do a locate<file> if they're not where I've stated they should be.